The week has continued to be dominated by the horrific scenes of the invasion of Ukraine and the international fallout engulfing Russia.
Sanctions have continued to be piled on the Russian state & high-profile individuals by governments from around the world. At the same time major companies are pulling out of Russia, divesting from Russian businesses and/or ceasing their services in the country.
The Russian stock market remains closed and the ruble continues to decline.
In currencies, the Pound has started to decline from its high at the end of last week. We’ve seen a drop back down against the Euro (following on from last week’s post-brexit high) and a further drop against the dollar.
We’ve also seen a Sterling decline against other key currencies such as the AUD and CNY.
This is unsurprising given some of the domestic economic news this week.
Once again the UK has seen a record high in petrol prices, now over £1.60 a litre! The continued high price of crude and the new domestic energy price cap rise has seen household bills continue to climb steeply. The cost of living crisis is truly starting to bite.
Positive news out of the ONS this morning shows that the UK economy grew 0.8% this quarter (in comparison to a 0.2 contraction last quarter), however high inflation has effectively knocked off any gains this could have caused.
In the US, the economy also continues to be in a precarious position with new inflation figures showing it now sitting at 7.9%.
To end, in some positive news this week, initial trials in labs in the United States have proved to be successful in creating a treatment for Ovarian Cancer. The results saw the cancerous cells killed off in just 6 days.
